Stranger
by Josiah123
Summary: After a childhood of bullying, Steve Walton becomes a man known as the Mysterious Stranger to get rid of the bullies of the world, and protect the good people. Along with his childhood friend Laura Carter, he just might be able to do it.
1. Background

Background

Wasteland. It's a horrible place. Once a great a powerful nation, now it lays in ruins. The human race is barely hanging on, soon it is guaranteed to be pushed over the edge and into extinction. No matter how big the walls, how big the weapons, or how big the guards, no where is safe and the moment you feel like nothing can hurt you, you get killed. Powerful cults, bandits, raiders, and mutants are constantly attacking the small societies dotting the map. Wasteland needs a hero. Someone who will stare into the faces of death and dragon and smile before spitting on them. Someone who will be a symbol of hope in these horrible times. Someone who can grab extinction and hold him at arms length from the human race. But who? Steve Walton may seem like a weak man with not special talents of skills, but when he puts on his trench coat and hat, you don't wanna be one of the oppressors. Along with his childhood friend Laura Carter he plans to be that hero, and save Wasteland, no matter what the cost may be.

Posting Speed: I will try to upload a new chapter every week or two, sometimes of course something will come up and that won't happen. I will try not to take extended breaks from this story, but sometimes if I get tired of writing I will put it on hold until my inspiration has returned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout, the Mysterious Stranger, or any other Fallout character metioned. Any real-life products or songs I mention in here I also do not own. I am making no profits of this story whatsoever and it is simply a story meant for people to read and enjoy.

Note: This story will not perfectly line up with every part of the Fallout series. This may be taking place before/after some events in the Fallout series, and the Mysterious Stranger will not be following the main characters around. Things like President Eden who could be dead in the game may appear, (and yes it is likely Eden will appear even though you can destroy him in-game). So this story will not be exact in the story lines. It will probably mostly take place in the Mojave and Capital Wastelands since I like those Wastelands best.

I hope you enjoy this story! :)


	2. Childhood Memories

Chapter 1: Childhood Memories

"Come on punk! Cry for us! Cry!" Reggie Thomson, the bully of the North, or so he was known as by his friends was once again partaking in his favorite pass time: Making Steve Walton cry.

He did this is a variety of ways, punching him, beating him up, pushing him over, taking his things, insulting him, and worst of all making fun of his mother. Steve's mother had left Steve and his father when Steve was only five years old. Now that Steve was eight, it she had left three years ago. Steve still remembered the night she left. She had waited until nightfall, when she thought Steve and his father were both asleep, she slowly and quietly packed her things and left. Before she left she went into Steve's room to say her goodbyes, again assuming he was asleep she was quiet. She bent over his seemingly asleep figure, kissed him on the head and whispered, "Remember, Mommy loves you. I'm sorry I'm leaving it's the only way to ensure your safety. I know you will grow up to do great things." Then she walked out of his room and quietly closed the door behind her. After the door shut Steve whispered to himself "I love you too mommy." If only he had been old enough to understand what she had meant when she had said that, he would have sprung out of bed, threw his arms around her and would have refused to let go unless she stayed. He never told anyone about that night.

The next morning Mr. Walton noticed the absence of his wife and of her things. He ran around the house trying to find any signs of what would have happened to her. He went around town asking if anyone had seen her, they looked at him like he was crazy. "Your wife died in childbirth." They gently reminded him. He knew this wasn't true, he scanned every terminal he could get his hands on for any signs of her recent activities. They all said the same thing, "Died while giving birth."

Soon, Steve's father was the laughing stock of the small city. Nobody took him seriously anymore, he even lost his job as head of the city guard.

Reggie would love to use Mr. Walton's crazy ideas of his wife just leaving him one night as he would pick on Steve.

"You know why your mother left? Because of you! You threw her life into Hell, so sher left you!" Reggie said to Steve

"No, she didn't. She loved me. She even told me that the night she left!" Steve shouted out, then realizing his mistake, quickly covered his mouth.

"What was that shrimp?" Reggie said, his interest piqued.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything!"

"Yes you did. Has your crazy old man finally gotten to you? OR is your crazyness inherited?" Reggie mocked "Hey everyone! This boy thinks his mother is alive also! He's as crazy as his dad! Hey, you, girl! This boy is as crazy as his dad!"

The girl he had called out to turned to him and said, "Shut the Hell up Reggie."

Reggie, the big twelve-year-old was shocked. Never had anyone ever stood up to him, especially not and eight-year-old, and especially not an eight-year-old _GIRL_. He got up in her face, "What did you say to me?" he demmanded.

The girl didn't back down. "I said... Shut. The. Hell. Up. Reggie."

"Look," Reggie said, "I'm going to be a gentleman and give you one chance to take that back or I will treat you like a boy and kick your teeth in."

"And _I'M _going to give you one chance to stop your bullying ways and leave this poor boy alone."

Reggie charged at her, but she simply stepped out of the way and he ran face-first into a metal wall. Angered, he turned around he charged again, but this time he was met with a swift kick to the groin. He doubled-over and fell to the ground cupping his groin in his hands and crying.

"How very unfortunate." Laura said.

She went over to help up Steve. "Don't worry, he won't mess with you anymore. Ain't that right Reggie?"

She was answered with a grunt from Reggie.

"I- I'm Steve." said Steve holding out his hand.

"Laura Carter, nice to meet you." Laura said and she took Steve's hand and gave it a hearty shake.

"Thank you for helping me." said Steve.

"No problem. I hate bullies."

"So do I. You wann come over to my house?"

"Sure."

The two kids went over to Steve's house. Steve introduced Laura to his father and Mr. Walton thanked her for helping Steve. The two eventually became the best of friends, two inseperable beings who had only each other in the crazy world in which they lived.

About fifteen years later, a now twenty-three year-old Steve and Laura sat at a bar in Megaton drinking away.

"Did you hear the news?" Laura asked Steve, "Another body was found last night. This one had the same cuts in the same places as the last three. What's going on in this city?"

"I don't know. But let's hope neither of us are next." said Steve.

"Look, Steve, I know things have been hard for you since your dad died. But I want you to know that I'm here for you." offered Laura.

"You always have been." Steve smiled, "I just wish that people would have believed him. I wish he wouldn't died as a supposedly crazy man. I know my mother survived childbirth, I know she lived. I just wish I wasn't the only one who had believed him."

"I believed him." said Laura.

The moment was interrupted when the door swung open. Suddenly light from the outside filled the dark room. Three men walked inside, each wearing vault uniforms, but on the back the number has been removed and in its place was an angry looking skull.

"Do you mind closing the door?" The bartender asked, "We keep it dark in here for a reason."

"Sure." said the leader, "Bart, cover the exit."

The door slammed shut and a big guy walked in front of it.

"What's going on here?" the bartender asked growing frantic.

"Mr. Moriarty, it seems you have failed to pay back Mr. Auditore the money he loaned you. You know what that means." said the leader.

"I'm sorry, I've been having a rough month what with all these bodies turning up and all. I'm losing customers." Moriarty pleaded

"Shh... Don't worry, I understand. But Mr. Auditore doesn't give a damn. He wants his money and he wasnt it now. I'm sure you're familiar with the choices of payment if you don't have enough money, no?"

"No! I won't work for him!" Moriarty screamed.

"I figured that was going to be your choice. Very well, death it is." the leader concluded and he pulled out a gun.

"Let's not get hasty now." said Steve standing up suddenly.

"Sit down cupcake. This is of no concern to you, just go back to your drink and once this man is dead and Auditore owns the bar, you can have all the free drinks you want."

"Steve, sit down." Laura whipered hastily, even she knew when a bully was too big to stand up to.

"I don't like bullies." said Steve his fists clutched.

"Dammit. Boys, shoot this motherfucker. So we can get back to business." the leader ordered.

Suddenly all guns turned on Steve, and he quickly dove behind the counter and grabbed Moriarty's .44 Magnum Revolver. Bulletts whizzed through the air right above Steve's head, the guns were moving down the wall spraying bullets, Steve rolled to the end of the bar and got on his knees. He popped up from behind the bar and took a shot at the man in front of the door. The bullet landed right between his eyes and he slid downt he down with a small trail of blood following his head.

"Laura get down!" Steve called.

Laura dropped to the floor and did the best she could to take cover.

"Bart's down! Get the motherfucker!" The leader's voice was angry.

The gang members wildly swung their guns around, bottles were bursting, holes of light suddenly appeared in the walls of scrap metal, and screaming could be heard outside. Laura, who Steve had never seen scared before, started screaming in fear when the leader grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. He put the barrel of his gun to her temple and called out, "If you make one false move, I will blow her brains out all over this bar!" Steve stood up and he put the gun down on the counter.

"Okay, I surrender. Just let her go." Steve requested.

"Nah, I have a better idea. You kill him. You obviously don't want us hurting this Moriarty fella, so how about you shoot him yourself." the leader said.

"Alright, fine you just have to let her go." Steve said.

"Deal."

Steve picked up the gun and turned to face the scared Moriarty, Colin looked up at him with a red face, puffy eyes, and his white hair fell in clumps around his face. "_Please_." he mouthed to Steve. Steve winked at him and raised up the gun like he was about to shoot him. The adrenaline in his blood then took over and Steve swung around and without even aiming much managed to shoot each of the remaining gangsters and even their leader. The leader fell over and released his grip on Laura. Steve hopped over the counter and ran to her, he scooped her up in a big protective hug and she started crying. After a few minutes Laura pulled back and Steve released her. He walked over to the bleeding corpse of the leader.

"I knew I recognized your voice." He said to the corpse, "Reggie you bastard."


	3. A Stranger Comes Calling

"I don't understand... Reggie was dead, I-I watched him die, how...?" Steve said, holding the gun in his hand still surprised by his sudden outburst of skill.

"Reggie was dead. His heart had stopped and there was a bullet where his heart was." said Laura.

The memory came back to Steve, that horrible day...

"Come on boy! Open your eyes a little!" Reggie yelled as he punch Steve again.

"I- I am..." Steve sobbed, both of his eyes were swollen from a recent beating by earlier in the week. Why no one ever bothered to punish Reggie, Steve didn't know.

"Come, on open them more, I know you can." Reggie pushed.

"Reggie! We've been over this enough, leave Steve alone! He is off limits!" Laura steamed when she saw how Reggie was treating her friend.

"Come on babe, we're just messing around. Ain't that right Steve?" Reggie gave Steve a look that told him he'd better agree or he would hurt so much more.

"Um.. Yeah Laura, it's alright..." Steve half-heartily agreed

"Nice try. I know you well enough Steve to know when you're lying. We're over Reggie." Laura said, and she turned and walked away from the 17-year old Reggie.

"Laura, babe, wait." Reggie ran in frot of then 14-year old girl.

"Get out of my way Reggie." Laura attempted at shoving past him.

Reggie grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Come on, don't walk away, please. I won't bully him anymore. I promise. See?"

Reggie ran up to Steve and wrapped his arm around his shoulders then pulled him into his chest and quickly ran his fist through his hair in a bad attempt to act like they were friends.

"Goodbye, Reggie." said Laura and she turned around to walk away again.

Reggie ran up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her up against the wall.

"No one walks out on me. No one. You are going to come back to my place with me and we are going to hang out. I'll forget you ever broke up with me." Spit flew from Reggie's mouth and onto Laura's face as he talked.

"Let me go! Someone help! Help!" Laura cried.

A horrified Steve stood by watching.

"Shut your mouth hoe!" Reggie yelled at her and slapped her really hard, leaving a red hand print on her cheek.

Tears rolled down the brutalized Laura's face. The slap snapped Steve out of the horrified trance, to see anyone hurting his only friend whom he had been friends with for years, that set him off. Without thinking, he reached down to his shirt, pulled a part of it up and gribbed the holster of his dad's revolver which he had stolen earlier so he could go hunting rats and pretend like he was one of the heroes he read about in books. The gun was being held in place by the top of his pants and it lightly pressed into his skin. He pulled the gun out and that section of his pants quickly resumed hugging Steve's sides. He lifted up the gun, and pointed it at Reggie. He looked down the sight and aimed right for Reggie's heart. Without a second thought, he pulled back on the trigger. There was a loud noise and Reggie fell backwards with a yelp. His hands released from Laura's shoulders and she fell down. Steve rushed over to her to help her up. Then they both looked horrified at what Steve had just done.

"I- I- I- What have I done?!" Steve cried.

"No, no, it's okay. You did what you had to, for both of us. It was in self defense and defense of another. Shhhh..." Laura comforted.

A few moments later there was a small crowd gathered around the two hugging friends.

"What the hell happened here?!" yelled the sherrif of Megaton.

"He was attacking us. Steve saved my life." said Laura.

"I doubt he would have killed you." Steve whispered.

Laura shushed him.

"Hm... It does look like he gave you both quite the beating. Although killing the poor boy was not the way to go about it." the angry sherrif said.

"I, I wasn't thinking... I was scared..." Steve said.

"Hmpf." the sherrif turned around and said to the crowd, "Nothing to see here. Keep going."

Mr. Walton ran up to the two, "Steve. I know you took my gun. You are in so much trouble. Give me it now." he demmanded.

Steve pressed the gun into his father's outstretched palm.

"Mr. Walton-" Laura began.

"Don't start Laura, I get that it was in self defense, but killing him? Are you fucking kidding?! It's bad enough you stole my gun. A loaded and fully funtional firearm! But even worse that you actually killed someone with it!"

"Yes dad. I understand. Punish me, go ahead." Steve bowed his head.

"Go home. Now. I'm gonna clean this up."

Steve and Laura ran off.

"Poor boy, didn't even have any parents." Mr. Walton said to the corpse.

Present day Steve snapped back to reality.

"Are you okay?" he said and he went over to Moriarty.

"I'm fine, thank you. You saved my life. You deserve a reward." Moriarty said

"That won't be necessary." Steve said.

"No I insist. I don't have any caps to give you, but you seem to be handy with a revolver, keep that one. I have some bullets in the back, help yourself."

"Thank you." Steve said.

Steve put the gun in his holster and then walked into the back room and opened the ammo crates back there. He pulled out all the ammo boxes and emptied the bullets into his pouch. After making sure Moriarty was okay and helping in cleaning up the mess, Steve and Laura left the bar.

"Megaton is usually a safe place." Laura said as they were walking out, "Why's it suddenly plauged with evil?"

A few days later Laura was sitting in her house throwing a ball at the wall, having it bounce back, and then throwing it again; when suddenly there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find a courier standing there.

"Hello Miss Carter, I have a letter for you. Here you go, it's from a Mister Steve Walton." the courier handed her a letter, "I'm afraid that's it, I gotta go now. Have a nice day."

"Thank you, have a nice day. Here, take these caps as a tip." Laura handed the man 10 caps and then closed the door behind her. She went to her drawer, pulled out a knife and cut the top of the envelope. She pulled out the letter and let the envelope drop into the trash can next to her counter. She sat down and the table and unfolded the letter. It was indeed from Steve, it read:

Laura,

Meet me at my house as soon as you get this. Hurry, time is of the essence.

Steve

An urgent message from Steve, something must be wrong. Laura jumped up from her chair and ran out the door and across Megaton to Steve's house. She nearly knocked the door down she was pounding on it so hard. When it finally opened she saw Steve standing there, he invited her in and closed the door behind her and locked it

"Your message was urgent, what's wrong?" Laura asked.

"Megaton. That's what's wrong." Steve answered.

"Huh?" Laura was confused, why was he being so cryptic?

Steve led her over to a leve that was on a metal post.

"How long's that been there?" Laura asked

Steve didn't answer, instead he pulled the lever and a part of the wall retracted and revealed a trap door.

Steve led her to the stairs, as soon as they were in the staircase there was another switch which Steve pulled and the wall went back into place and everything was dark for a minute. Steve turned on his Pip-boy light. As they descended Steve began to talk, "This place was built before the war as a safe haven in case of any missiles or bombs ever being dropped on this area. Needless to say, it either didn't work, or the people didn't make it in time. My house was built right on top of it, though I only recently got the switch working."

"What's down here?" Laura asked.

"You'll see." not long later they reached the bottom and Steve pulled up on another switch and the whole room sprang to life. All around there were terminals, metal walls, glass protectron cases, a workbench, a doctor's table complete with boxes full or meds and other stuff like rad-x and pouches of blood that Steve could use to cleanse his blood in case of radiation, food, a few ammo chests, and some random junk. There was even a Nuka-Cola machine in the corner of the room.

"Whoa... Did you do all this?"

"Like I said, the room was already here, I just installed the protectron cases, ammo chests, terminals, workbench, doctor's section, and all the other random objects. But the walls, they were there."

"This is amazing Steve, no wonder I haven't seen you since the incident. But what's all of this for, and why is it so urgent?" Laura questioned.

"You were right the other day. Megaton is usually a safe and quiet place, but for some reason evil and crime is staring to take over. Megaton needs a hero, a savior. And not just Megaton, the whole Wasteland. It needs a becaon of hope, someone to tell everyone that it's going to be alright. Someone to stare into the face of death and beat him in a staring contest. I want to be that person. I know I can do it. With my strange gun and fighting skills, I know I can pull it off. But I can't do it alone. I want you to help me. Use these terminals to locate crimes, I've put trackers and listening devices all around Megaton, we can listen to and pintpoint the exact location of any and all crimes as they happen. I can even upload this stuff to our pip-boys so you don't have to sit down here all day and sometimes you can go off the clock and I'll listen for crimes also. I've also made a new program for our pip-boys, it should allow us to communicate using them, it should similarly to the telephones that were used before the war. So, are you in?"

"Are you serious?"

"I most certainly am." Steve said.

"Well if you try it on your own you will either go down in history as the shittyest hero ever, or you'll get killed. You're gonna need someone to watch your damn ass, so yeah, count me in." Laura said.

"I knew you would want to join." Steve smiled, "I even have a costume made."

Steve rused over to one fo the desks with a terminal on it and pulled out the middle drawer, he picked up the contents and held them out for Laura to see. It was all pre-war clothes, a while shirt with a brown tie, brown pants and black boots. And pre-war tan trench coat and tan fedora. Steve changed into the out fit.

"So what do you think?" he asked.

"I think you look like a detective from those pre-war detective movies in the 1950s." Laura said.

"That's what I'm going for." Steve said.

"But why?"

"Because it's mysterious, I may be a beacon of hope but I don't wanna be as bright as a lightbulb that people notice who I am right away." Steve explained.

"Well then, I guess that'll work." Laura said.

"Good."

Steve took a little while to load the communicators and tracking/listening devices onto both of their pip-boys, but once they did everything was running smoothly. Laura sat down at a terminal and turned it on, instantlly, one of the trackers/listeners alerted them to a crime in progress. Laura checked the coordinates of the tracer and gave them to Steve. Steve entered them in his pip-boy and got an exact location of where the crime was happening. He quickly ran out of the basement.

"No please, I've given you everything I have. Please don't kill me." a man pleaded to the thug that was robbing him. Scattered at the thugs feet was a small pile of about 1000 caps, some jewelry, ammo boxes, design schematics for a powerful weapon, and box of Cram.

"No witnesses. Guess this is your unlucky day buddy." the thug said in his gruff raspy voice.

"Please, I'm begging you, I have a wife and two daughters. Both of them are very young, they're twins of about the age of seven. Don't make them have to grow up without a father please. Don't widow my wife, she's not a very strong woman, she won't be able to pull through without me. Don't spare me for me, spare me for them." the man begged.

Pity suddenly came over the thug and he slowly began to lower his gun, "I had two daughters once... One of them's a stripper now and the other one, I dunno. I think she's dead." the thug said.

"You see? Don't make my daughters have to grow up without someone to guide them and make them into fine young women who don't do exactly what they do before they bathe, for money." said the man.

"Yeah... You're right, they need someone..." The gun started getting lower and lower.

"Steve wait!" Laura hissed into her pip-boy, "Listen."

Steve switched on his tracer and listened to the thug and his pity.

"-ess you're girls do need you." the thug said but then he finished, "BUT NO WITNESSES!"

"NO! PLEASE!" the man knew it was over, no amount of pleading would change this thug's mind.

The gun suddenly rose right back up in the thug's hand, the was pointed straight at the man's head, the thug's finger grew tight around the trigger. His finger slowly began to draw back, but right before the thug finished, there was a loud _BANG! BANG! BANG!_. The man thought the thug had fired, he kept his head covered for a minute, but when he realized he wasn't dead, he uncovered and found the thug lying face first in a pile of caps with three holes oozing blood in his back. Behind the corpse was a man holding a smoking gun. Then as quickly as he was there, the Mysterious Stranger was gone.

The next day, rumors were going around Megaton about the Mysterious Stranger who had saved a man's life. There were sketches hanging around town based on the man's description of him.

A man walked up behind Steve and slapped him on the back, "That's a nice looke for you. Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me 'Mysterious Stranger'" Moriarty said.

Laura ran up to Steve after Moriarty left and gave him a big hug. "You did it!" she said.

Steve drew her back from him, "We still have a long way to go, the journey is just beginning." Steve told her.


End file.
